It’s a duty that many shrug off, so kudos to you for RUNNING to the other side. I’m really enjoying seeing all this cool stuff you’re making.

diydad

June 24, 2013

Wow… This is awesome. I would love to see build steps and pics for this. I assume a chain saw was involved… But what did you use to get the “scaled” look? Did you use a blow torch to blacken the edges of the scales?

Hey thanks man, I need to be better about every once in awhile taking more time in the design phase (taking pics) and giving a clearer (crazy) window into what process and what order I do to complete projects. I’m not sure I have a great deal to teach because I’m(crazy) but I am happy to share what I do know. After I use a chainsaw to rough out the project out I use a grinder with a chainsaw blade to do the bulk of the finer details including the scales which is just by eye and hand and is mostly just time spent ruining projects that you learn how to use a light hand with a machine that is more than happy to rip your project or (skin) apart. The blade I use for the grinder is called a (king arthur blade) I think. I have several chainsaws but prefer to use an electric for carvings that aren’t huge, still a dangerous machine but as soon as you take your finger off the trigger the blade stops almost immediately which is a good thing. I love to use a torch with my carvings it allows you to not only shade but also depth the Japanese are really the ones who perfected it calling it Shou-sugi-ban but they primarily used it on flat surfaces I love what it can do to 3 dimensional objects.

Yes, Im lucky enough to have been exposed to it at a fairly early age by my father who has always been preaching the virtues of that book and also a huge fan of The timeless way of building. They both will have an honored seat on the ever rotating shelf on my bookcase of honor.